Massachusetts Transportation Analysis 4413

7/28/2019 Massachusetts Transportation Analysis 4413

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MEMORANDUM

TO: Governor PatrickFROM: Secretary DaveyDATE: April 3, 2013RE: Impact of the Joint Ways and Means Proposal on

Transportation

OVERVIEW

In summary, the proposal released yesterday increases funding fortransportation by increasing the gas tax, increasing support from theGeneral Fund and significantly increasing tolls, T fares, RMV fees

and other unnamed revenue sources.

While the plan makes substantial progress in closing the operatingbudgets for the MBTA and MassDOT, there is an alarming lack ofsupport for fixing our roads, bridges and trains. Yesterdays proposalprovides just $600 million over five years to fund what has beenuniversally identified as at least a $13.2 billion minimum backlog inneeded repairs to existing roads, bridges and trains. At a time whenfederal funding is shrinking and after years of neglect forinfrastructure across the state, this proposal offers another short-termband-aid.

In addition, the plan provides no funding for new transportationprojects such as South Coast Rail, South Station expansion and theGreen Line Extension. (It should be noted that by not investing innew trains for the MBTA, we will lose federal funding for the GreenLine Extension, doubling the state cost for this legally mandatedproject to $1.3 billion.)

If enacted, the proposal announced yesterday will fail to adequatelyaddress our long-term needs for a safe, modern and efficienttransportation system. The proposal will not reduce the number ofstructurally deficient bridges; it will not provide sustainable funding tofix the current highway and transit systems; it will result in significantlyhigher tolls, fees and fares; and it will not make overdue investmentsin areas of the state that have been too long ignored.


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OPERATING BUDGETS

Yesterdays legislative proposal would raise $500 million in newrevenues for transportation, allowing us to address many operatingneeds:

o The proposal would eliminate the annual operating deficits ofthe MBTA in the next four years, by inclusion of additionalstate funding and regular fare increases (estimated 7% inFY2015 and 13% in FY2016.)

o After three years, the proposal would fund MassDOTemployees entirely on the operating budget. After two years,it will fully fund the annual snow and ice budget. Thesechanges will rely on a combination of new taxes and

increases in tolls and RMV fees.o The proposal would forward fund the Regional Transit

Authorities.o The proposal would support the current capital transportation

plan; however, there is broad consensus that the currentcapital plan seriously underfunds basic maintenance andstate of good repair.

CAPITAL NEEDS

It has been publicly noted that the legislative proposal would not fundexpansion projects such as the Green Line Extension, South CoastRail or improvements to South Station. Less obvious is that theproposal provides relatively no new funding to support the existingroads, bridges and transit systems in the Commonwealth. Based onour initial analysis, the proposal seems to assure a slow but steadydecline in the quality of the states transportation system.

Last year, the Legislature ordered MassDOT to do a comprehensivestudy of the states transporation assests and finances to determinethe true need. In January of 2013, MassDOT released a detailedstudy which showed that due to a lack of investment during the BigDig, the state needs to spend nearly $13.7 billion more than iscurrently planned.


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Your proposal fully funded that unmet need. Yesterdays proposalonly provided capacity for $1.1b of the needed $13.7 billion. If theLegislature also enacts increased funding for Ch 90, that will leave

just $600m to meet the needs. This means we will have toreevaluate our current capital program and potentially redirect fundsto more critical needs.

Also, as a result, many specific, popular and necessary projects willnot be built, including the I-91 Viaduct in Springfield, the I-93/I-95Interchange in Woburn, and the I-93/I-95 Interchange in Canton.Further, the replacement of Orange, Red and Green Line cars will notoccur and necessary and vital improvements to the Ts infrastructurewill not be made. RTA buses will continue to fail and exceed theiruseful life.

Important construction projects and their attendant benefits foremployment, mobility, and the environment are not the only thingsthat will lose out underyesterdays proposal. Less obvious butequally important state of good repair projects will be back-burneredwithout sufficient funding, forcing MassDOT to allow the quality of ourshared infrastructure to further decline and associated delays andinconveniences to mount.

Your proposal called for over $1 billion in capital investment over tenyears in the Commonwealths bridges. This would allow us to fix thehundreds of structurally deficient bridges in Massachusetts, buildingon the marked improvements in quality under the recent AcceleratedBridge Program. Many Massachusetts bridges were built in the1950s and 1960s, and many are now coming due or are over-duefor maintenance and rebuilding. MassDOT has dedicated significantresources over the past years to repairing those bridges, but theLegislative proposal contains no funding to continue this work.

A failure to build these projects will force the residents of theCommonwealth to continue to contend with decaying infrastructureand excessive congestion, deprive all of us of the multiuse paths thatbring value and enjoyment to our communities, and reduce ourregional and national competitiveness.


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TARGETED EXPANSIONS

While subsequent bond bills may authorize new expansion projectssuch as South Coast Rail, Green Line Extension, South StationExpansion, the Inland Route, Cape Rail and other projects, there willbe no funding available underyesterdays legislative proposal toactually build those projects.

In addition, the proposal effectively doubles the cost to the state ofthe legally mandated Green Line Extension. In order to be eligible forfederal funds for this project, the state must make investments in theMBTAs State of Good Repair program. While your proposal madethose investments, the legislative proposal released yesterday doesnot. Therefore, the state will have to someday fund the entire $1.3

billion cost of the project.

MBTA

The Legislative plan does not provide any additional investment forstate of good repair projects. This means that the pace ofaccessibility improvements to a system built in 1897 is unknown.Given the age of the bus and rail cars, the T will continue to retireunsafe vehicles that without the capacity to replace, will lead to longer

commutes, waits for customers and crowding. The lack of funding forsignal, power and bridges will further degrade on time performance,leading to longer rides for customers. Finally, additional security andcustomer service agents and late night service is unattainable.

REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITIES

A significant proposed decrease in the amount of new fundingavailable for our Regional Transit Authorities, which provide a lifeline

for transit-dependent residents and employees outside of the MBTAdistrict. While The Way Forwardincludes $100 million per year innew funding for the Regional Transit Authorities, the Legislature isoffering $12 million per year, indexed to inflation. This is an $88million reduction in proposed funding. Regional Transit servicescustomers will continue to be left behind as our ability to invest inadditional bus routes, improved commute times and improved


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reliability will be eliminated. Lack of weekend and night service willcontinue to be the norm outside of metro Boston.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Investing in infrastructure, as you know, is a job creation andeconomic development program. Over the past ten years the FederalHighway Administrations (FHWA) Office of Transportation PolicyStudies has calculated the employment generated from federal-aidhighway projects. In Massachusetts, the FHWA currently estimatesthat 34,779 jobs (11,921 construction oriented jobs; 5,405 supportingindustry jobs; and 17,453 induced employment jobs) producingemployment income of $1.3 billion would be supported by each $1.25

billion in highway capital expenditure. Thus, one job is supported forevery $35,941 in federal and state spending on highway and bridgeimprovements. The failure to fund the proposed $5.1 billion in roadand bridge expenditures will eliminate or defer over 141,000estimated jobs.

SUSTAINABILITY

Yesterdays proposal puts an emphasis on MassDOT raising new

revenues upwards of $200 million annually to supplement newfunding to be provided by the Commonwealth. Yesterdays proposedfinance plan would require these new MassDOT revenues begenerated by steep increases in MBTA fares, fees for transactions atthe Registry of Motor Vehicles, and tolls on the MassachusettsTurnpike. These are the only sources of revenue directly controlledby MassDOT, and thus the only avenue it can pursue to meet thenew revenue targets laid out by the Legislature.

Yesterdays proposal also provides no flexibility to use RMV fees atthe T or tolls charged on the turnpike for other transportationprograms. It perpetuates a siloed and segmented transportationfunding program.

Your proposal assumed predictable increases in MBTA fares (5%


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every two years), RMV fees (10% every five years) and Turnpike tolls(5% every two years). In order to cover the targets required by theLegislature, however, MassDOT would have to institute dramatic andunpopular increases.

IMPACTS

If sufficient revenues to address this gap are not advanced, we mustconsider options that include weight restrictions on bridges, cessationof projects and the closure of registry branches or other services tocreate sufficient funding for capital investment. Closure of registrybranches will lead to longer waits for customers on an intermittentbasis the average resident visits the registry once every two to five

years. This occasional inconvenience and, the resulting frustration,must be measured against the daily frustration of millions commutingon antiquated and congested rail, transit and highway networks. Wewill be forced to adjust our operating budgets to provide sufficientfunds to improve mobility, access to jobs and opportunities foreconomic development.

Massachusetts Transportation Analysis 4413

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